The incidence and histogenesis of vaginal adenosis: An autopsy study

A detailed histologic study of 100 specimens of vagina obtained from female fetuses and girls up to the age of 25 years revealed adenosis in eight cases, five among 33 subjects less than one month of age and three among 24 patients 13 to 25 years of age. No examples of adenosis were found in 43 patients between one month and 12 years of age. In two of the five fetuses with adenosis there was prenatal exposure to exogenous progestagens. The findings of this investigation, in addition to other evidence, indicate that vaginal adenosis can arise on a congenital basis. The failure to detect it between infancy and puberty suggests that steroid hormones may play a stimulatory role.